Sky is encouraging arts organisations and production companies to pitch collaboratively for up to €1.25million (£1m) annually on new TV ideas, as part of a broader investment in the UK and Ireland’s creative industries.
The initiative, Sky Arts Amplify, is designed to foster integrated partnerships between creative institutions and TV production companies, bringing the vibrancy and breadth of the arts in the UK and Ireland to life on screen in innovative, new ways. €1.25million (£1m) is available annually for the next three years. Amplify furthers Sky’s position as an established supporter of the arts in the UK and Ireland and reiterates Sky’s ongoing commitment to investing in original, homegrown content. Amplify seeks to offer ways for arts organisations to reach new, wider audiences, and to create high quality arts programming for Sky customers.
Sky Arts Amplify is the evolution of Sky Arts Ignition; a scheme launched in 2011 which saw partnerships with Rough Magic for their unique production in the Olympia Theatre in June 2014 of The Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny in association with Opera Theatre Company, and with the V & A Museum and Tate Liverpool to stage groundbreaking new work. It underlines Sky’s position as the home of the UK and Ireland’s only dedicated arts channels, as well as a leading corporate supporter of the arts following the success of long-standing partnerships with the Hay Festival and the English National Ballet.
Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive, Sky: “Amplify continues our long-standing commitment to support the arts on and off screen. We hope that this initiative will generate exciting results for both the arts industry and our customers."
Phil Edgar-Jones, Director, Sky Arts: “The arts landscape of the UK and Ireland is more exciting than it’s ever been, and we want to reflect that on Sky Arts. But we don’t just want to make TV about the arts – we want to make artistic TV. Sky Arts Amplify is about bringing the best people in their fields together to do this in bold, fearless ways.”
How to Apply
Sky Arts will invite a number of organisations to a ‘speed-dating’ session on 26th November in London where they can meet with production companies to brainstorm initial ideas.
Arts organisations will be encouraged to team up with one of a shortlist of production companies, and submit one page treatments from 1st January. All submissions should be sent to skyartsamplify@bskyb.com (mailto:skyartsamplify@bskyb.com) .
There will be an invite to pitch for the first round in early 2015 to Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts, and Celia Taylor, head of non-scripted programming at Sky. The project will be led by Manisha Ferdinand at Sky.
The application process will open every quarter.
Sky is the UK and Ireland’s leading home entertainment and communications company, and is the UK and Ireland’s biggest investor in television content, investing more than €2.75 billion a year in channels such as Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News. Around two-thirds of Sky’s content spend is home-grown and Sky is the fastest-growing source of investment in original home-grown programmes such as Moone Boy, Treasure Island and David Attenborough’s ‘Flying Monsters’. More than 2 million people tune into Sky channels each week in Ireland.
Alongside its commitment to offering customers a greater choice of high-quality content, Sky is a leading innovator. Customers enjoy total control and flexibility over their favourite TV through Sky+, watch TV on the move through Sky Go, and enjoy the best quality TV experience at home through High Definition and 3D. Sky also recently launched Ireland’s biggest Catch-Up TV service a total of 47 Sky and non-Sky channels, including TV3 now available to Sky customers in Ireland at no extra cost
Sky believes in making a wider contribution to the communities in which it operates by taking positive action on the environment, supporting grassroots sports and increasing access to, and participation in, the arts. Sky Ireland is located in offices at Burlington Road, Dublin and employs more than 900 people.
Sky is increasingly engaged in grass roots activities across Ireland: it is the title sponsor of the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival in Kilkenny where it holds premieres of some of its latest entertainment content; following a rigorous application process involving 100’s of organisations, the Sky Arts Ignition series saw a €230,000 fund exclusively allocated to Dublin-based theatre group Rough Magic for their unique production in the Olympia Theatre in June 2014 of The Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny in association with Opera Theatre Company; and the Sky Sports Living for Sport Programme, which launched in 2013 and has already seen 100 secondary schools across Ireland participate in life skills initiatives aimed at 11-16 year olds.
For further information, please contact:
Niamh McCarrick
Communications Manager, Sky Ireland
M: +353 86 3809191
E: Niamh.mccarrick@bskyb.com (mailto:Niamh.mccarrick@bskyb.com)
James Elms
Communications Executive, Sky Ireland
M: +353 86 452 8406
E: james.elms@bskyb.com (mailto:james.elms@bskyb.com)
The Above is content is a press release from Sky Arts Amplify.